Tips for managing student loan debt
A college education is not as affordable as it used to be.
In fact, college tuition is rising at a rate that many can’t keep up with. In the past 20 years, a private school education at the nation’s top universities has increased by 134 percent. In the 2022–2023 school year, the average cost for tuition and fees amounts to $39,723 for a private school education. For out-of-state residents and in-state residents, an education at a public school costs $22,953 and $10,423, respectively.1
The high cost of an education makes it easy for students to accrue a lot of student loan debt. Not surprisingly, more than half of students leave school with some debt.
On average, borrowers owe $28,950, amounting to a total of $1.75 trillion in federal and private loans. The majority are federal loans (more than $1.6 trillion) that borrowers (43 million) owe. Most of the borrowers who are 25 to 34 years old owe between $10,000 and $40,000. The cohort that has the most borrowers with more than $100,000 in student loans are made up of borrowers between the ages of 35 and 49.2
President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness program was set to wipe away up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those who earn less than $125,000 a year individually or $250,000 as a family. Pell Grant recipients would have gotten an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven. On June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the forgiveness plan.
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